Photographing Industrial Landscapes

Shooting Industrial Landscapes

As much as we all love travelling and shooting landscapes, there are great pictures to be had in some unlikely places. Shooting industrial images will take you to some strange and out-of-the-way locations and can be extremely challenging, but I love the opportunity it throws up to shoot strong yet simple images with bold silhouettes, shapes and patterns.

I’ve been shooting as a professional for 
over 20 years, but I can still remember the 
first industrial shots I ever took. When I was 
14 years old I shot the smoke stacks of a local factory in Frome silhouetted against a winter sunset, which illuminated the clouds of steam giving them the most fantastic golden-yellow glow. The factory is now long gone, but my first industrial image is still very vivid in my mind, and I’ve been hooked on getting visually strong industrial images ever since. With topics such as climate change, global warming and green issues always at the fore, demand for quality industrial images is on the increase.

Shooting Industrial Landscapes - How To:

So how do you go about shooting industrial images? Well, as with other branches of photography it’s all about planning, research and local knowledge and, of course, having 
an idea of the type of image you are after before setting out. In this security-conscious age it also pays to let the relevant security office know what you are doing, especially if you are planning to shoot a sensitive subject like an oil refinery. I was once waiting to shoot a petrochemical plant at sunset from a public road when a security guard approached me; half an hour later two police officers pulled up, took my details and searched my car, and after that another more senior police officer turned up and gave me a bit of a lecture. The moral 
of this story is to let people know what you are doing as it may save you time and grief, and make the security’s job a bit easier too.

Subject matter for industrial landscapes can be wide and varied; it’s certainly not just about shooting the nearest power station. Look for wind farms, petrochemical plants, docks, ship yards, harbours, railways, motorways, cement works, quarries, strings of pylons, building sites, housing developments and major civil engineering projects such as bridges. How do you find out about these things? By reading the national press, watching the news, and also by looking at business journals and annual reports. They are all great sources of information. I shot Birmingham’s Bullring complex while it was still under construction from a multi-storey car park nearby, having found out about it in a national newspaper article. On another occasion I just happened to drive past a great-looking building site, so I stopped and offered the site foreman a bottle of malt in return for 30 minutes’ shooting time. He agreed and I shot some great material that now sells as stock.

One major problem with shooting industrial images is that you can sometimes end up in one of life’s not-so-nice places, so you need to be aware of your surroundings and personal safety. I once parked my car on a country lane and went off to shoot a steel mill; on my return an hour or so later I realised that nearly every other car parked nearby was a burnt-out wreck!